While taking a cartooning class, I discovered doodling. Doodling is the art of making simple drawings, based on whimsy (that alone appealed to me more than I can say).
I was taking the class for several reasons: I was feeling stuck and bored and wanted a time out from nightly television watching and poor dietary intake choices, I had severe writing block and hoped a visual technique would bring words back to the surface, I wasn’t having much fun, and a friend had taken the class and I saw how she was using it to make changes in her own well-being.
Did it actually save my life? Maybe. It certainly influenced one essential component necessary for true happiness (the kind of happiness that comes from within, not from outside stuff, people, events…).
We have all felt the need to find a way out of boredom, unhealthy habits, toxic relationships, or generally feeling disconnected from life. I have always been able to rely on my mindfulness practice to at least keep me grateful with a sense that the feeling will pass and I would reengage with life. That wasn’t happening this last time. I needed something to kick my butt into action.
The cartooning class was outside my comfort zone. It meant staying up later than usual, being with a group of people who I assumed would be more artistic than I, being with a group of people who I assumed would be much younger than I, and may only frustrate me more than I already was.
I could not have expected the outcomes: that I wasn’t the oldest or least experienced artist, that I loved making simple cartoons, that I didn’t care what the other students or instructor thought of my drawings, and that I really loved the simplest cartoon form – the doodle. It made me happy. It brought me back to my childhood when I didn’t care what others thought, and then it brought me back to my practice of mindfulness. Not that I had given the practice up completely, but I had misplaced the ability to go deeply into the present moment awareness. Doodling brought me back to simplicity and the joy of mindfulness.
Mindfulness and happiness are strongly woven together. Doodling reminded me of all the ways mindfulness, present moment awareness, can come to life: writing in journals, walks in nature, somatic movements, yoga, visualization….I do believe the list is endless, as unique as we are as individuals.
It may be that doodling will continue to bring me delight and the joys of mindfulness, or not. It doesn’t matter to me. I am grateful for finding my happiness which is always just a doodle away. What brings you happiness? Do more more that.
Jan facilitates national workshops for therapists and life coaches. She presents at conferences on topics related to holistic psychology and living your dreams.